The Rainforests of World exhibit sets a scientific stage at the Academy of Sciences on Thursday Sept. 18, 2008 in San Francisco,Calif.

Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle

The Rainforests of World exhibit sets a scientific stage at the...

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Showcase For Science (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

Showcase For Science (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

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Living Roof (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

Living Roof (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

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Cross-Section View (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

Cross-Section View (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

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Ground Level (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

Ground Level (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

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Steinhart Aquarium (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

Steinhart Aquarium (Todd Trumbull / The Chronicle)

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Sergio Sanchez and Francisco Perrez wash the windows on the Rainforests of the World exhibit at the Academy of Sciences on Wedesday Sept. 17, 2008 in San Francisco,Calif.

Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle

Sergio Sanchez and Francisco Perrez wash the windows on the...

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Lilly Rodriguez, 9, and Anna Mae Parsons, 8, 4th graders from Marshall Elementary School, watch as fish swim above them in the Amazon River underneath the Rainforests of the Worlds exhibit at the Academy of Sciences on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle

Lilly Rodriguez, 9, and Anna Mae Parsons, 8, 4th graders from...

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A mixture of sunlight, foliage and architecture come together in the Rainforest of the World Exhibit at the Academy of Sciences on Thursday Sept. 18, 2008 in San Francisco,Calif.

A move by the de Young was already being considered, but the thought of the academy leaving the park hit like a bombshell, and San Francisco residents didn't like it.

Both institutions had been indelible features of Golden Gate Park for decades.

The academy - with its natural history museum, planetarium, aquarium and live animal exhibit - was aging and, like the de Young, was quake-damaged, but it had been an icon for adults and their children for more than 80 years.

The people who ran the academy rejected Brown's idea, too - for different reasons. Relocating would require an expensive land acquisition, and downtown parking was scarce.

Yet they knew something had to be done with the dilapidated buildings that housed the oldest natural science center west of the Mississippi, and if Brown's proposal did nothing else, it started them thinking about the academy in ways they never had.

"As soon as you allow yourself to start dreaming big, you start to realize, maybe it could happen," said Meagan Levitan, who handled the Academy of Sciences' community outreach at the time.

On Saturday, the dream will be realized when the new academy, a $488 million architectural and environmental gem, makes its public premiere in Golden Gate Park.

In January 1997, the academy was a hodgepodge of buildings, slowly crumbling with age and damaged further by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. More than a year of planning had gone into renovating the academy's Steinhart Aquarium after voters approved a $29.2 million bond in November 1995. Bird Hall was closed, damaged beyond repair in the quake. African Hall and Morrison Planetarium were damaged as well. And there was a lot of deferred maintenance.

Quietly, Richard Bingham, the new chairman of the academy's board, already had been thinking big even before Brown's speech.

"I decided that the smart thing to do, if we could afford it, was to tear it all down and rebuild it," Bingham said. "I had no idea what the cost was going to be."

An energetic visionary

Patrick Kociolek, the academy's head of research, took over as executive director in October 1997, and emerged as the energetic visionary in the group that largely shaped the new academy.

Kociolek pictured "a natural history museum for the 21st century" that demonstrated the evolving nature of science with changeable, state-of-the-art exhibits and attention to global warming and biodiversity. Scientists would collaborate in open research areas rather than hunker down in isolated silos.

"The energy that came along with Patrick was amazing," said Pat Kilduff, who oversaw the environmental impact report for the academy. "The enthusiasm was contagious."

Four academy trustees joined Kociolek in a core group to push the project.

Developer William Wilson III, known later for helping refurbish the Ferry Building at the end of Market Street, wanted a top-flight architect.

George Montgomery, a former investment banker, spearheaded a record-setting fund-raising effort.

Bingham, with a bedrock belief that money could always be found for a top-notch product, kept everyone focused.

Attracting money, crowds

The group faced two big questions: Could they raise the $370 million they estimated was needed for the project, and if they built it, would enough people come?

Whether such a building would draw crowds was a legitimate concern.

The old academy regularly drew 800,000 people a year, but the Central Freeway, a key route in getting to the park, had been extensively damaged by the Loma Prieta quake and was now closed. Cars had been barred from Golden Gate Park's main thoroughfare, John F. Kennedy Jr. Drive, on Sundays, a peak attendance day.

To make matters worse, the de Young Museum, a top draw located across the park's music concourse from the academy, was looking at relocating after a bond measure to rebuild the quake-damaged museum failed amid opposition to a parking garage for its patrons.

Solving the parking problem

The issue was solved when San Francisco financier and philanthropist Warren Hellman stepped forward to spearhead a private fundraising campaign for an 800-space underground garage between both the museum and the academy. With public financing no longer a necessity, voters agreed in June 1998 to allow the garage.

The de Young would remain in the park.

Now the board could turn its attention to finding an architect.

The vision for the academy was coming together. It would be a landmark building designed to top environmental standards while housing five unique operations - a planetarium, aquarium, living rain forest, natural history museum and research center.

The core group needed someone who could handle the sheer complexity of it.

By July 1999, the choices were narrowed to five finalists, all with different approaches.

One of them, British architect Norman Foster, arrived with five associates, two trays of slides, and detailed mockups of two specific designs. He talked for an hour and a half.

In contrast, Italian Renzo Piano simply began by rearranging the room chairs in a circle. Then he pulled out a blank sketch pad and listened as board members described the issues that were important to them - nature, biodiversity, naturalistic forms. As they talked, Piano sketched.

Piano was best known as one of the designers of the Pompidou Center in Paris and, in 1998, had won his profession's top honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Architect 'got it right away'

In the end, Piano was the unanimous choice.

"His idea was to look out and see the beautiful park around you, have the building be a part of the park," Wilson said. "Renzo got it. He got it right away."

Money was now the issue.

Estimates for the project put the cost at $370 million, a figure that would eventually balloon by more than $100 million, largely the result of the soaring price of raw materials on the global market.

In March 2000, voters approved an $87 million bond to rebuild the academy, but private fundraising was the real key.

Netting $334 million "was daunting, and it provided some trepidation for the board," Bingham said. "But my experience in the for-profit world was that if we had a world-class, first-class project, we could find the money."

He was right. The campaign netted the largest haul for a cultural project in San Francisco history.

View previous stories, videos and photo galleries of the Academy of Sciences' four-year renovation and the huge undertaking of moving 20 million specimens. sfgate.com/calacademy.

The public unveiling

After more than 10 years of planning and construction, the California Academy of Sciences invites the public to visit its new $488 million building in Golden Gate Park.

SHOWCASE FOR SCIENCE

The airy new home of the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park combines exploration, education and entertainment.

LIVING ROOF

The 2.5-acre green roof is planted with native California species to provide habitat for birds and butterflies while also serving as an exhibit on environmental sustainability and biodiversity. The multilayered surface protects the building from the elements while serving as a substrate for the native plants. The design is intended to enhance water and energy conservation while blending in with the park. A series of domes resembles adjacent hills and accommodates skylights, airflow and such interior structures as the planetarium and rain forest.

- Skylights above the larger domes open and close throughout the day, enabling sunlight to reach the exhibits below.

- The steep slopes of the rooftop's hills draw cool air into the open piazza at the center of the building.

- An observation terrace enables close-up views of the roof's canopy of plants.

CROSS-SECTION VIEW

The academy's new headquarters is a long, multi-story rectangle dominated by a pair of enormous globe-shaped structures on either side of a translucent central piazza.

GROUND LEVEL

The rebuilt academy features more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space. From the main level, visitors can access the planetarium, piazza, rain forest and most of the public exhibits; Steinhart Aquarium is located one level down.

- African Hall from the original museum is restored as Tusher African Center, with 21 dioramas. Restorations

showcase gorillas, zebras, leopards and lions in natural habitats. A live colony of African penguins is at the far end of the hall.

- A special exhibit for infants, preschoolers and their caregivers includes nature-themed play spaces, costumes and games.

- The original seahorse-motif railings have been restored.

- Visitors can see academy scientists at work through the windows of this active research laboratory.

- Touch a piece of denim insulation, see conservation in action, and learn about one of the greenest buildings on Earth.

- Altered State: Climate Change in California; Fossils and other specimens help illustrate climate change in California and around the world.

RAIN FORESTS OF THE WORLD

A 90-foot-diameter dome encases a living rain forest complete with free-flying birds and butterflies. Temperatures will be maintained at 82 to 85 degrees, and humidity at 75 percent or above using a special misting system. Stacked in one half of the dome, separate galleries focus on the native wildlife of Borneo, Madagascar and Costa Rica rain forests. A spiraling pathway leads visitors up to the top, from where they take the elevator down to the flooded Amazon exhibit beneath the dome.

- Under the domed skylights, this bright humid space is filled with more than 40 species of birds and butterflies.

- The ramp spiraling through the dome required such precise engineering that a roller-coaster manufacturer was hired to shape the steel.

- A 25-foot-long acrylic tunnel enables visitors to see up through the 100,000-gallon Amazonian tank to the rain forest above.

MORRISON PLANETARIUM

A state-of-the-art digital projection system immerses visitors in a wraparound visual experience. Guided shows gives visitors the sensation of flying through space.

STEINHART AQUARIUM

Located below ground level, the aquarium features more than 100 tanks filled with fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Large windows provide underwater views into the Swamp, the Philippine Coral Reef and California Coast tank.